3rd Period Kings Best Wild

Especially after the excitement of the 8-0-0 road trip, tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild seemed boring. The Brown-Kopitar-Iafallo line started strong, as always, getting a few good looks in but nothing terribly scary for Devin Dubnyk. Down at the other end, Quick didn’t have much to do either, which is perhaps why MacDermid decided to start a fight with Chris Stewart (who continued to try to pick fights all night) 6:14 in. The fight lasted a good 30 seconds and MacDermid seemed to get a few good whacks in, despite being the one to fall to the ice first. It did liven up the game, if only for a brief moment. A Kings power play didn’t do much to liven it up either, with a small barrage of shots towards the end of it the only slightly interesting thing to happen.

(AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo)

The second period wasn’t too much better; at least there were some goals but truthfully boring was preferable to dumb which is what it became. Their opening power play wasn’t anything to write home about. The goal they let in 2 minutes later wasn’t either. Le sigh. Is it now a rule that the Kings have to let in the first goal of the game? No matter, 4 minutes later Jake Muzzin took a huge shot from the slot, giving Drew Doughty his first assist of the game. 1:10 later though, it didn’t matter as the Kings let in the most stupid goal of the evening. The Wild were circling around the net and Ennis flipped it up past Quick’s shoulder in a predictable and preventable goal.

(AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo)

The Kings apparently saved all of the excitement for the third period. It took them 4:35 minutes to get the tying goal, with the increasingly popular Brown-Kopitar and now Gaborik line. All three, who slumped last season, are experiencing incredible comeback seasons – that was Kopitar’s 15th goal, surpassing his total of 12 from last year in less than 25 games. (He passed it in Detroit but it’s a well-timed point.) Immediately the Kings followed up with a penalty because of course, they did. A non-call on Kopitar put the stadium in an uproar, but the Kings took it in stride and scored instead. It was deflected in by Toffoli’s skate but Adrian Kempe was credited with the shot, getting him into double digits. Not to be outdone, 1:22 later Gaborik got his second of the evening. It was his 400th goal, 800th point, and Kopitar’s 500th assist. Stewart tried to pick another fight with Kempe who was having none of it, happy to sit with that go-ahead goal. With 2:04 remaining the Wild got a penalty which obviously wouldn’t help them with any kind of comeback. Kopitar racked up his third point with the empty net goal, as did Doughty with the assist. The King’s goal differential in the third period got even better, to +27; 40 goals for, 13 against.

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About Emily Redenbach

Emily grew up a rink rat on the coast of Australia, where roller hockey was the closest thing to the NHL she got. She escaped to sunny California where she quickly became infamous for her love of shoes. When she isn’t reading or dreaming of a life where a TARDIS appears at her door, she’s watching the LA Kings.